


Reverse

by GoringWriting



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, I'm Sorry, M/M, Poor Qrow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:14:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22627690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoringWriting/pseuds/GoringWriting
Summary: A role Reversal for the end of ep 12. I am so sorry. Blame Hope in the fairgame server for Qrow's last words.Disclaimer: I own no characters, I own nothing, this is all the creation of RoosterTeeth.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 12
Kudos: 84





	Reverse

“Qrow, I don’t want to fight you. Please just come quietly. We’ll get Robyn some help and we can see Ironwood and figure out what this is all about,” Clover says walking towards Qrow who is kneeling in the snow trying to find Robyn’s pulse.

“For a man who doesn’t want a fight.you’re holding that fishing rod awfully tight. I don’t want to fight you either Clover, but since when has the world ever cared about what I want? All my friends turn up dead or trying to kill me. I wanted you to be different,” Qrow says standing up from Robyn’s side.

“I wanted to be too,” Clover says softly and swings his hook, catching the handle of Qrow’s weapon pulling him off balance and right into the path of his fist.

“I’m sorry Qrow. I have to follow my orders,” Clover says landing a kick to the back of Qrow’s knee. He knows Qrow is decent at hand to hand but Clover knows he’s better. He can beat him, he just needs to keep Harbinger out of play.

“And I have to protect my kids,” Qrow says grabbing the rod of Kingfisher and spins him using it before landing a kick him making Clover have to jump back to avoid the punch aiming for his jaw.

“Clover, we should be focusing our time and energy on Callows. He’s a bigger threat than I will ever be,” Qrow says.

“He’s still restrained and unconscious in the plane. Right now you have my full attention,” Clover says hooking and pulling Harbinger to the ground and slamming his knee into the side of Qrow’s head.

“Lucky me,” Qrow says and Harbinger turns into its broadsword form. Making it harder for Clover to hook onto.

“Qrow, please just come quietly. I promise I’ll look out for team RWBY. Make sure that they aren’t hurt,” Clover says.

“But you’ll arrest them. Four Huntresses that have had your backs in the field since the mines. Who you trained and taught. How do you explain me being on that list to arrest? I haven’t been out of your sight. What are the grounds for my arrest Clover? That my nieces are going to be arrested? Last time I checked you need to do something illegal before getting arrested or attempting to. All I’ve done is help capture Callows.”

“I’m sorry! But Ironwood wants you brought in. Why doesn’t matter!” 

“Why always matters! And I guess the fact that Mantle will be abandoned and that innocent civilians will die means nothing to you. Or do lives only matter when they are the rich Atlas types?” Qrow asks and slashes at Clover.

“That’s not what this is and you know it! A Huntsmen has a duty to save who he can!”

“Huntsmen save as many people as he can or die trying. Not leave innocent men, women, and children to die! But...you’re not really a Huntsmen, are you? You and your Ace Ops are soldiers and nothing more,” Qrow says 

“Qrow please. I have to fight you but I don’t want to hurt you!” Clover pleads. 

“People I trust always hurt me,” Qrow says and punches Clover in the face.

Clover backs up a little to give himself some space. Qrows’s weapon is still a sword. Qrow must know that it would be harder to hook like that. 

“Clover, you know this isn’t right! Let’s just sit down. We’ll check on Robyn and figure out where to go from there!” Qrow pleads.

“I’m sorry friend,” Clover says casting his hook towards Qrow. 

“Yeah...me too,” Qrow says running towards him and slashing at him with his sword. Clover slides back to avoid it. Qrow without a weapon is terrifying, him with one is even more so. But he’s a better fighter with the scythe and Clover has taken that out of play. Clover dodges a couple of kicks and then sends his fist towards Qrow’s stomach. He’s seen Qrow break auras with his punches thanks to his semblance. Maybe his will do the same and he can bring Qrow in and all this fighting will stop.

Clover swings Kingfisher at Qrow’s head and he ducks under it and lands an upcut against Clover’s chin and he groans and grabs his chin and then lands a kick to the man’s stomach before sliding back out of the line of fire. 

Qrow swings Harbinger at him a couple more times before his eyes land on something behind Clover. 

“Tyrian,” Qrow hisses and runs off behind Clover. Clover turns to find the Faunus sitting on the wing of the plane watching them. Clover casts his hook and drags Qrow back towards them and they start fighting again.

“Clover what are you doing? Tyrian is the bigger target here, not me!” Qrow says.

“I’ll take him down as soon as I get you into custody,” Clover says and knocks Harbinger out of Qrow’s hands. 

Qrow grunts and dodges under a kick and punches Clover in the gut again.

“You’re making a mistake Clover. As soon as our guard is down he’ll attack and we’ll be screwed!” Qrow snarls and lands a punch to the face. Clover slides around him and brings the hand of Kingfisher down on the back of his head and Qrow groans and hits him with a rock and Kingfisher goes flying off towards the plane wreckage. 

Clover punches Qrow several times before flicking his badge and shoving his knees into Qrow’s stomach and he watches his friend’s aura flicker and then break completely. 

“I am so sorry Qrow,” Clover says cuffing the man’s arms to his side. 

Qrow slams his head back and steps away from him before turning to look at him.

“You’re not sorry Clover. You’re just like every other person I’ve loved and trusted in my life. You stay with me until we disagree.” 

“Qrow, I still care about you!” Clover says.

“Sure, that’s why you just stabbed me in the back!” Qrow says and there’s a gasp and a gurgle and something warm and wet lands on Clover’s face. Qrow’s eyes are wide and there’s a bit of blood in the corner of his mouth.

Clover’s eyes trail down the front of Qrow’s body until it lands on the dark haired Huntsmen’s chest.

No!

A gleam of red covered silver is poking out through a hole in Qrow’s shirt. Streams of red running down the front of it.

When Clover looks closer he sees that it’s the harpoon from Kingfisher and when he looks behind Qrow he can see Tyrian holding it.

“Oh, so that’s what it does,” Tyrian cackles and presses the button to retract it and it pops out of Qrow with a sickening squish and Qrow gasps and drops to his knees hand pressed over his wound. 

Clover lands on his knees next to him and pulls Qrow into his arms and rests a hand on Qrow’s cheek. He’s shaking and his breath is shallow.

“I’m so sorry! I should have listened!” Clover says tears sliding down his face rocking Qrow back and forth a little. He can see Tyrian running away but he can’t bring himself to chase after him. 

“J...just keep an eye on my girls. K...keep them safe,” Qrow gasps out a little blood bubbling up from his lips.

“I promise,” Clover says and Qrow chuckles and Clover feels something pressed into his hand. When he looks down he finds one of Qrow’s rings pushed into his hand.

“Good luck,” Qrow gasps out and the sunrise washes over them. 

“Hey Summer,” Qrow whispers and the light dims from his eyes and Clover screams from a place so deep inside of him he didn’t know existed.

The ride back to Atlas is silent. He refused to let Qrow’s body be left out there for the grimm or worse, Tyrian, to get their hands on.

When Clover gets off the ship Winter is there telling him to go to Ironwood’s office for a debriefing and new briefing. She watches Robyn get rushed to medical and her eyes widen when instead of Qrow exiting a body bag is wheeled out. 

“Is that…” She doesn’t even finish the sentence.

“Tyrian escaped,” Clover says and he sees her face fall for a second before it is replaced by her usual demeanor. 

“I’ll handle the...body. You get to the meeting,” Winter says and Clover walks through the familiar halls feeling numb. Is he going to be able to keep his promise to Qrow? Will he be able to protect the kids? Will they even trust him when they know what happened?

He pushes the door to the office open and he freezes. Team RWBY are there talking to the Ace Ops who look worse for wear. 

“W...what’s going on here?” Clover asks his stomach dropping and he thinks he’s going to vomit. This can’t be what it looks like. Because that would mean…

“Oz...I mean Oscar finally got through to me. What I was doing wasn’t a sound strategy, it was a fight or flight response that Salem had been counting on. Separate us from mantle and all I have are a few special ops, the Ace Ops, students and the robots that I forgot that thanks to Watts Salem can turn on us like they did at Beacon. I would have separated myself from a large population of people who could be armed and who would be able to fight the bots should they go rogue. I would have been outnumbered horribly and she would easily overtake Atlas. Oscar helped me see the error in my thinking. Where the fear clouded my heart,” Ironwood says and Clover feels sick.

“Yeah, too bad he couldn’t have called off the arrests before we got our asses kicked,” Harriet says.

“To be fair we have a lot more experience fighting against people who want to kill us,” Yang says.

“I am sorry. Marrow was right I was being excessive,” Harriet says.

“That’s what I wanted. I needed your attention on me because if you were aiding your teammates we would have lost,” Ruby says.

“The arrest order was cancelled?” Clover asks, his scroll must have broken in the fall. He never got the new orders. 

“Clover?” Ironwood asks and Clover stares at the floor. He’s heaving, trying to catch the breath that’s been knocked out of him.

“Wait...that’s my Uncle’s ring...why do you have it?” Ruby asks, Yang coming over to stand next to her.

“Clover, where are Robyn, Qrow and Callows?” Ironwood asks. 

“When I got the alert to arrest Qrow Robyn interfered and during the scuffle Callows managed to free himself and crashed the ship. Robyn and Callows were rendered unconscious while I attempted to arrest Qrow. He resisted and we fought,” Clover says feeling like he’s going to be sick before he can finish telling the story. 

“Callows woke up shortly before Qrow’s aura broke and I had him cuffed. At this point we had both been disarmed. Callows gained control of my weapon and shot Qrow with it,” Clover says hand fisting his the fabric of his pants.

“Is he okay? We should get to the medical room, make sure he’s okay,” Ruby says looking at Yang. Clover feels his heart break all over again.

“Ruby, Yang. I’m so sorry. The shot went through his heart. H...he didn’t make it,” Clover says unable to lift his head to meet their eyes.

Deep inside a voice says, “you can’t even look them in the eye after killing their Uncle? Pathetic.”

“What? No,” Ruby whimpers her voice breaking and Clover can feel everyone’s eyes on him. He can’t look at them, doesn’t know if he ever will be able to again.

“I am so sorry,” Clover says.

“Sorry won’t bring our Uncle back,” Yang says.

“I know, I’ll take you to see him before he’s buried,” Clover says.

Later that night Clover goes to visit Qrow’s body, staring down at the face of his friend and the man he had hoped for more from. Dead because of him.

He heaves a shaky breath and pins his badge to Qrow’s chest and kisses his forehead.

What had it been that Qrow had said to him. Good luck? Clover is pretty sure he’ll never have good luck again.

“Good luck wherever you end up Qrow. I love you,” Clover says and finally breaks down and drops to his knees sobbing uncontrollably.


End file.
